Friday, September 18, 2009

The Plant that Ate a House

Well, not quite............but this is what happens when you plant Boston Ivy (Pathenocissus tricuspidata) and forget to prune it. This house, in the centre of Allendale in Northumberland (see http://www.northumberland-cam.com/allendale/), makes a stunning impact when its cloak of foliage changes colour in early autumn. This rampant climber scales walls using sticky pads on the tips of tendrils, which glue it to the wall surface. Recent research in China suggests that this adhasive ability and rapid growth might make this a useful plant for stabilising unstable rock surfaces, like the faces of abandoned quarries.

The name Boston ivy relates to its use to cover buildings in that state, not to its geographical origin which is eastern Asia.

Some plants really do hang on tight. A few years ago I scraped some common ivy off the garage wall. It had been growing for a few years and took days of hard work to remove most of it but the bits which are well and truly stuck will probably never come off.

That's an amazing ivy picture, Nyctalus...I've long thought that Hedera helix is one of the most interesting and important plants in the British flora, not least because it will eat your house if you give it half a chance.

Cabinet of Curiosities

Welcome to my natural history blog from the North East of England.

Copyright Notice: Copyright of all photographs on this blog resides with Phil Gates. Students and teachers are welcome to use any of these photographs for non-commercial educational purposes , provided that their source is acknowledged by quoting the URL of this blog. The size and resolution of most pictures should be fine for PPT presentations.